Wild ARMs: Sins of Desire
by Kawaii Shinta
Summary: An original story set in Filgaia. A young ARMs user is betrayed by her closest friends. Her story of revenge and realization as the betrayel runs deeper than she thought. R&R. Ch.6 up!
1. Prologue: The Wildfield Murders

_Disclaimer: I do not own Wild ARMs or any of the settings in the video game series. However, original characters and ideas are my intellectual property._

**Prologue: The Wildfield Murders**

The rain fell hard upon the steel bulk of the Adlehyde Express, running directly from the Fatooza Shrine to the great capitol of the kingdom. Usually this prestigious locomotive carried hundreds of first class passengers in its kingdom-renowned dinner cars, but today the train only carried two passenger cars and three cargo cars behind it. This was because today, the Adlehyde express carried an important artifact with it; one that could change the ongoing problems of the kingdom's monarchy. As such, security was near doubled on the train, and packed into two small passenger cars, with elite guards in the cargo cars. Truly, not a single man woman or child could infiltrate the defenses of the railway this day.

It was a good thing, then, that Rayne had seven people backing her up.

Riding up alongside the train were eight figures on horse back, fighting desperately to keep up in the torrential downpour. However, the thick blankets of rain had given them the cover they needed to get close to the train without being detected. Rayne was at the head of the pack, dressed in a reddish-brown trench coat and wearing a worn wide-brim brown hat on her head. Her chocolate brown hair was matted to her back as her chestnut brown eyes surveyed the small ladder on the side of the train she would use to board. Behind her, the rest of her posse kept close at her trail, ready to follow her lead. Collectively, they were known as the "Knight Blazers", named after the legendary demon that scorched the land Filgaia millennia ago, leaving the world an arid desert. Each of her gang had taken on one of the aspects associated with the Blaze as their nickname: Envy, Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Greed, Sloth. Rayne had never taken a nickname herself, though through Filgaia she was known and feared as "the Sin that walks". She had earned that frightful name through her acts of ruthless thievery and pillaging in any form she could. Of course, Rayne did not care. She did not expect the rest of Filgaia to understand what it was she and her crew really did. If they understood, they would be singing a very different tune about the Knight Blazers. But that was neither here nor there.

Rayne brought her mount close enough to the train to grab the slippery ladder, lifting herself off and onto the side of the first passenger car. Her horse, trained for this kind of activity, instantly broke off from the train and turned to head back to their hideout. A heavyset man rode up to the side, nodding, then rode ahead along the tracks. This was Gluttony, and his job was to change the track settings to make sure no matter what, this train did not reach Adlehyde. One by one, the rest of her gang filtered onto the train by the ladder. With her was Wrath and Lust, twin female red-heads that fought better hand to hand than any Rayne had known in Filgaia. Greed and Envy, a short squinty-eyed man and a tall blonde man, respectively, climbed onto the roof. They would take the train by surprise a few cars down. Sloth, a wirey young man with glasses over his eyes, kept his pace alongside of the train, ready to provide back up where needed. Last but not least was Pride, the youngest of their group. He was a bright-eyed bushy-tailed type if there ever was one. He would sneak up front and take over the engine room.

Nodding to Wrath and Lust, Rayne kicked in the door to the first passenger compartment and rushed in, much to the surprise of the seven guards in the car. Without stopping to blink, Rayne brandished her ARM, known affectionately as "Desperado", and fired off two amazingly precise shots that dug into the left shoulders of two guards, respectively. Lust and Wrath leapt to Rayne's sides and over the seats to flying kick two more guards in the face, before ducking down to avoid two sword swipes from two of the remaining guards. The third remaining rushed Rayne, stabbing at her in the confined space of the train car. Rayne expertly swerved to avoid the hit, then butted the end of her ARM into the guard's nose, causing a spray of blood and the guard to fall back unconscious. Looking to her back up, Lust and Wrath had already made short work of the two remaining. The car was secure.

"Good work, ladies." Rayne said, looking out the window to the next car, "Greed and Envy have secured the next car…it's a straight shot to the cargo. Let's do this."

The two sins nodded and followed their leader as she went from the first passenger car to the second. Inside, Greed and Envy had indeed done a number on the seven guards in this car. In fact, Rayne doubted if any of them were alive. She cursed lightly to herself. She preferred not to take lives when they could be spared, and Envy was definitely one of the types that cared very little for the lives of others. But his skills were second to none, and he got the job done. Rayne nodded to her mates and proceeded down to the first cargo car. The inside was empty. More than likely, the guards went to the car that held the true prize to guard it.

"Wrath, secure this car. Lust, you're with me."

Rayne and Lust proceeded into the second cargo car to find another mass of dead guards, seemingly town apart by bits of shrapnel that had ripped through their skin. _Shotgun?_ Rayne thought, _Why the hell is he using it here?_ Motioning to Lust, Rayne proceeded into the last cargo car. It was empty of people; a fact that Rayne found strange considering that in the center of the car, in a large wooden crate labeled with the symbol of Fatooza Monastary lay before Rayne's eyes. This is what she had come for. This was the answer to all her problems. Lust grinned widely, obviously thinking along the same lines as Rayne as they both approached the crate. That is, before the shot rang out. Before Rayne could react, she saw Lust's body tumble forward, a bullet having pierced her head from behind. As her body landed with a "thud", Rayne spun around, ARM aimed and rage in her eyes at whoever had just ended the life of her crewman.

What Rayne found she had not expected. Standing at the entrance to the car was none other than Envy, blonde hair covering his eyes but not the sadistic grin upon his face. Aimed at Rayne, and still smoking from its previous shot, was his own ARM. The only other ARM user in the Knight Blazer, and he had just shot one of his own with it.

"Envy, what the HELL are you doing?!" Rayne shouted, cocking back the trigger of Desperado.

"You know, Greed asked the same thing. Right before I put one between his eyes." Envy replied coolly, pumping the pump action reloader of his ARM.

"You're betraying us?! Why?! We were a team!" Rayne growled.

"We were. Now we're not. All that's left is you, me, and Gluttony. And Gluttony is on my side." He said with a grin.

Rayne gave a shout of anger, and slid her hand along the top of Desperado, activating the ARMs most deadly payload, gatling raid. The five bullets released at once thunked into Envy with unerring accuracy; Rayne was the far superior gunman here. However, she looked in horror as Envy slid back, spitting up some blood…but wasn't dead. The bullets she had unloaded were on the floor. Rubber. She looked up to Envy, who despite his blood-stained lips, was smiling. He had replaced her gatling raid round with rubber bullets. That bastard.

"Sorry, Sin. But you know what they say. Dog eat dog world." Envy whispered, before pulling the trigger on his own ARM.

A normal bullet did not emerge. No, that would have been a simple matter for Rayne to dodge. Instead, Envy had used his shotgun attachment. Instantly, shrapnel rocketed from the top barrel of his ARM, filling the room with a maelstrom of metal. Rayne, of course, had been too close. She had expected gatling raid to work. As such, she was blown clean off her feet as hundreds of tiny pieces of metal sliced into her skin, blowing her over the crate and right out the window of the train's car. Rayne hit the ground with a sickening crack, rolling along the tracks as the train sped off towards Gluttony's trap. Of course she could not see it, but littering the tracks further down the line were the bodies of Pride, Sloth and Greed. Rayne laid there in the rain, blood pouring from her wounds, her right hand clenching Desperado desperately. Her vision was fading quickly, and she was starting to feel very, very cold. Betrayed. Betrayed by the last people on Filgaia she had ever expected to betray her. Why? They worked together. The fought together. Their goals were the same! This was the last though Rayne had before 'the Sin that walked" faded into unconsciousness. Only seconds later, and she would have seen the massive wolf-like creature pad up to her. Only seconds later, and she would have seen its dark blue fur with red stripes. Its huge paws and teeth that glistened in the little moonlight there was. And its twin eyes of smoldering amber. The wolf left out a long, mournful howl and rolled Rayne onto her stomach, picking her up by her coat with his teeth. Then, the mysterious wolf started away from the tracks into parts unknown, carrying his unconscious and dying cargo, who in turn held desperately to her ARM.

_Author's Notes: I originally wrote this as a character back story for a Wild ARMs role playing game I was in. However, the group I played with suggested I post it and develop an original story from it, which is what I'm doing. If it is found interesting, then I shall continue it, but otherwise it is more to satiate the curiosity of my friends and I._


	2. Chapter 1: Sin and Desire

_Disclaimer: As before, I don't own Wild ARMs. I do own original characters and concepts. Booya._

**Chapter 1: Sin and Desire**

What had transpired that rainy night had come to be known across Filgaia as the "Wildfield Murders". This was mostly because the bodies of the legendary gang, Knight Blazers, were found scattered along the train tracks passing through the open plans that bore the name of the event. The Adlehyde Express never reached its destination in the capitol, and the train, along with its mysterious cargo, was never seen again. The mysterious disappearance of an entire train did not even compare to the appearance of the bodies, in the eyes of the common folk. For longer than most would have liked to remember, the Knight Blazers had been the terror that stalked Adlehyde's otherwise peaceful landscape. The eight sins, and their leader who embodied them all, had been known far and wide for their ability to pull off any heist, and more importantly, to escape any sticky situation. So when the authorities informed the people of the kingdom that three of the eight members of the Knight Blazers were found dead, no one could believe it. It had to be a trick. As the months passed and there were no longer any signs of the Knight Blazers, however, the people started reach the realization: Whatever happened that night in the Wildfields had ended the gang. A calm came over the people of Adlehyde as perhaps, for a short while at least, they would not have to worry about bandits or raids. And after eleven months of peaceful frontier land, it seemed they were right.

However, this story does not start in Adlehyde. In fact, it does not even start near its borders. No, this story truly begins in a large expanse of frontier far to the north of any unified nation. This region, known as _the_ Frontier, was famous for its freedom and farmland. Indeed, it seemed to be one of the only areas that had started to grow plant and wild life naturally in the expanse of the inner sea. Adlehyde and its rivals of course boasted lush green lands around their nations, but this was due to magical aid to help cultivate the wounded landscape. Frontier was the only land that had begun to recuperate on its own. Frontier was perpetually filled with ankle to knee high plains grass, small dotted forests around the mountains closer to the sea, and farms and small towns dotting its landscape in convenient-to-live locations.

So it was really no surprise when another Dream Chaser came into the town of Quill early one afternoon. After all, the Frontier was the only place left for those who choose not to settle down and still wander the land in perpetual searching for a life that was only just beyond the next hill or river. Quill was particularly accepting of Dream Chasers, as its founding member had been one himself before he settled down and became mayor. A few houses, a main road, and a few establishments were what made up the "official" town. The surrounding land had farms and ranches, however, that also claimed to be part of the town. Since most of the town was agriculture based, in early afternoon it was deserted save for a few wandering folk. It was these folk who got their first glimpse of the newest person to mosey through their neck of the woods.

The Dream Chaser was a young woman, no older than eighteen, dressed in a ruddy red-brown cloak and sturdy boots. A brown wide-brim hat on her head shielded out the sun, but allowed her chocolate brown hair to cascade down to her mid-back. Hazel brown eyes glinted in the sunlight as she looked around the little village she had inadvertently wandered into. The girl was a sight for dust-stung eyes, no one would argue that. However, what was more interesting was her choice in company.

At her side was perhaps the largest wolf that any of the residents of Quill had ever seen even with their Frontier experience. He was the oddest shade of dark blue, and crimson red stripes ran up and down his fur, as smoldering amber eyes stared out from his head to any who dared linger their view on the pair for too long. The girl's hand was resting lightly in the fur of the top of his neck, scratching lightly now and then. Perhaps, some surmised, it was to keep the beast calm and from lashing out at everyone in the town. The pair didn't really care what the village thought, of course, but that does not make the views any less note worthy.

The local watering hole, known affectionately as the Tumbleweed Catcher, was where anyone not out in the fields was currently residing, nursing an afternoon drink or just having lunch. Quite tired of the unrelenting sun, the young woman made her way there too, pushing open the door with her free hand and walking straight to a table without a moment's hesitation. Her lupine companion circled the table once, and then laid down beside her chair, tail now and then thumping the floor lazily as he scanned the room. The tender on duty that day was by no means a brave man. In fact, he remembered two particular occasions where a raccoon in his house had him running out into the streets screaming bloody murder. So it was no surprise he was reluctant to speak to the young woman and her wolf to any length extent. However, as was the bartender's code, her money is just as good as anyone else's. So, pulling up any bits of bravery he had, the man walked over to the pair, though keeping enough distance to make sure that beast at her side would not tear out his throat.

"Afternoon, missy. What can I get you and your mutt…" the tender said, pausing to reconsider his words, "I mean…friend."

"Something hard and strong for me." She replied coolly, her voice smooth yet at the same time commanding, "And something filling for him."

"Well, the hardest thing we got here is quite rough, missy. You sure you want it?" the tender asked. He felt it his duty to warn her.

"Do you make a habit of questioning the requests of your patrons? Just get me the liquor! And something to eat while you're at it." The girl snapped back.

The sudden raise in her voice caused the wolf to look up, then over to the man he assumed was causing the agitation with a glint in his amber eyes. The tender pulled on his bowtie slightly, suddenly feeling a bit too constricted, then nodded quickly and scampered off to the kitchen. The girl for her part let out an exasperated sigh and let her hand go down to scratch the wolf lazily, as she often did when she was left with little else to do. For his part, the wolf was far form complaining.

Eleven months was a long time to be alive after you should have died. Rayne knew this well, as for all intents and purposes, she _should_ have died that night of the Wildfield Murders. She had awakened in a cave, miles from any part of the tracks she knew of. Her wounds were tended to, though she didn't know by whom, and she found this large wolf guarding her form protectively all through the time. Somehow, she had known his name instantly as her hand made the briefest contact with his fur.

Luceid.

And that was how their strange relationship had begun. Later, Rayne discovered she had lost a week, and that not hide nor tail of the Knight Blazers had been seen, outside of the three bodies found around the tracks. She wondered at first if she was the only one to have survived the betrayal. Then her mind snapped into focus; Gluttony and Envy. They had betrayed her and her mates on that train and had left her for dead. This is where her new desire stemmed from. Revenge. Revenge for her mates. Revenge for the job being botched. Revenge for Envy using an ARM she herself had built for him _against_ her. And strangely, Luceid seemed to know all this as she came to realize it herself. Luceid was good at that; knowing almost exactly what she was thinking, and in so acting upon it without her even having to say so. That is what made them such an excellent team. The two were nigh-inseparable, and now wandered the breadth of Filgaia in search of her mutinous ex-crew mates. However, Envy and Gluttony had seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. With little to go on, Rayne had taken to wandering randomly, and hoping by some long shot she crossed paths with information that would eventually lead her to them.

The tender placed down a plate of cooked meat and a large mug of ale onto the table, and a plate of raw meat onto the floor a few feet from the wolf, before once more scampering behind the safety of his bar. Rayne picked up the ale, downing a good length of it in one gulp, then wiped her mouth on her arm as she looked down to Luceid. The hungry guardian had slid forward enough to start to devour the helpings of meat, letting out the familiar low growl he always did when he lost himself in feeding. Rayne smiled, giving his back a firm pat before digging into her own meal. The meat was overcooked, but food was food at this point.

"So they got you again?" a voice said quietly from a table not far away.

"Yeah. Three whole cows." Another voice responded, a sigh following.

"I don't get it. I mean, its way too early for them to be coming down from the mountains." The first replied.

"Tell that to my cows. Hell, me and the wife're too afraid to even go out after dusk now."

Rayne tapped her chin with her fork thoughtfully, catching the glance from Luceid out of the corner of her eye. He had heard the conversation as well, and as already looking expectantly to his lady. Rayne sent a small smile his direction, then gulped down the last of her drink, stabbing her fork to stand upright in the meat as she turned her seat around to face the pair of men now. They were both just ordinary farmers, from the looks of things, though one obviously had the face of a distressed man.

"Monster troubles?" Rayne asked, trying to stay as quiet as them.

"Hmm? Yes, missy. Blade bears been coming down and attacking our livestock." The distressed man explained.

"Mine too, though Bill here has obviously gotten it worse than me." The other farmer replied.

"I see," Rayne said, "Well, how would you like to be rid of them?"

"I'd be very much obliged…why, you know someone?" Bill asked.

"I might. Interested?" Rayne replied.

"Sorry, Bill. But I'm not so desperate as to ask this little lass for help. Good luck." The other farmer said, getting up wand leaving with a wave.

"Sorry about Dave there, miss. But he doesn't have a wife'er kids to worry about." Bill explained, "So you'll help me?"

Rayne nodded and turned to finish the last bits of her meal, before laying a few coins on the table as payment. Together with Luceid, she stood up, and motioned silently for the farmer to the do the same. The three of them left the Tumbleweed Catcher and the town proper as well, heading towards a small little farmstead a little under a mile outside of town. The property bordered an expanse of woods, which in turn lead to and up a small mountain range. Rayne imagined the sea was beyond it. As soon as they came onto the land, the offensive odor of death filled Rayne's nostrils, causing her to wrinkle her nose, despite herself. Luceid had obviously got a whiff of the smell himself, his hair standing slightly on end, an excited edge to his movements. The farmer lead the pair to a fence, where inside were over thirty corralled cows. In a corner were three dead ones, looking to have been torn open and devoured from the inside, then left to rot by the morning. Flies buzzed around the corpses. They must have been killed only a night before.

"We've had problems with the bears before, but we generally stay out of the mountains and they leave us alone. I don't know what the problem's been recently." Bill explained to her, motioning to the corpses for emphasis.

"I see," Rayne said absently, looking towards the woodlands, "One hundred coin per bear, and we'll see if they'll think twice about bothering you anymore."

"A hundred coin? Isn't that a bit much?" Bill asked with a worried frown.

"I imagine losing three more cows every night will cost even more." Rayne replied, giving a look to the farmer that she was very serious.

"True enough, true enough…I really appreciate this." Bill finally conceded, "Anything I can do to help?"

"Keep you and your family indoors." Rayne explained, starting to walk towards the woods, "I'll knock when its done."

With that, Rayne walked around the expanse of the property twice with Luceid at her side. It was fairly large, and there was a hill in-between the forest and the corral. For his part, Luceid seemed excited at the prospect of invading monsters, slightly prancing about anxiously whenever Rayne would stop to take a look at something in the area. Though she was better at hiding it, she shared the wolf's excitement. Another thing they seemed to have in common; they were at their best when in the middle of a heated conflict.

Having been satisfied with her survey of the land, Rayne walked up to the top of the hill between the farm and woodlands and sat down, pulling her hat off to fan herself lightly. Luceid sat not too far away, a look of nobility to him, as if a king sitting upon his throne and surveying his kingdom from the hill. Rayne smiled at the thought, then laid back, crossing her hands behind her head to stare lazily at the clouds. It was odd that blade bears would be coming this far into human settled land. Generally, monsters knew better than to start upsetting the careful balance between civilization and wilderness. However, it had been happening a lot in the past few months, Rayne had noticed. Monsters acting uncharacteristically ferocious and attacking human settlements for food, or she could swear on it, sometimes just for blood. In any case, it made a decent living for Rayne, who could stop to kill a few monsters to earn the coinage to continue wandering for a time. It wasn't the life she dreamed of having. But then again, any hope of that life died that night on the train.

Rayne almost hadn't noticed that afternoon had slipped into evening, then into night. What alerted her was the 'chirp-chirp-chirp'ing of crickets. Looking to her side, Luceid had decided to settle down on his stomach, his head resting lazily on his two front paws. Rayne then turned to look up at the sky once more, tracing the shape of constellations from the uncountable amount of stars visible that night. She might have enjoyed doing this the whole night through, if not for the sudden, low growl from her companion.

Rayne instantly sat up, her eyes going to where Luceid was looking without even having to look to the wolf. There in the woodlands, was the rustling of many large feet making their way through the underbrush. Growls and barks emitted from the trees, and Rayne knew that her quarry has arrived. Standing, she drew from her side the ARM she kept carefully concealed in a holster under her cloak. The Desperado. It was a fairly simple ARM, with a large pistol barrel and rifle rest above the trigger. It was light enough to be used in one hand, but left enough room to grip with both if aiming became too much of an issue. Above the barrel, however, was her pride and joy. Another barrel with an elongated ammo cache attached to the bullet clip she normally used for the ARM. An attachment she had built herself, and was especially proud of. Her thoughts of self-pride were shattered as the first of the bears burst from the woods.

The blade bear was an interesting creature, to say the least. It possessed a thick coat of golden fur, and two paws with claws as long as stiletto knives. Its mouth was filled with vicious teeth; perfect for tearing a living creature limb from limb, and it often adorned itself with feathers and bits of bone from kills. Indeed, they were intelligent enough to enjoy the hunt, and ferocious enough not to care about what they killed. Indeed, the blade bear was a veritable killing machine. It was just Rayne's luck that there were eight of them.

The massive beasts of muscle and claw were tearing up the hill, knowing well the hunting grounds they had taken to over the last few weeks. However, the addition of the small fleshling up the hill, and the massive wolf at her side was completely new to them. Another confusingly new addition to the night was the sound of a gunshot being fired, the deafening bang echoing in their ears. No, these new additions were nothing good. After all, whatever that bang had been, it had caused one of their tribe to tumble to the ground, bleeding from his head.

Instantly, Rayne noted that there was one among them that was larger than the rest of the pack. His gold fur had been tinted rent with blood, and his eyes were not so much filled with intelligence as filled with rage and bloodlust. She had seen a few of these types among all of the monster species the past few months. They had come to be known as Frenzies; powerful, more vicious versions of their type. Rayne quickly aimed Desperado at another of the lesser blade bears, as the big one would have to wait. Luceid had leapt down the hill in a single bound, crashing into a bear with his teeth chomping on its golden neck, and his claws tearing into the flesh and bone easily. The blade bears quickly ran around, anxious to get to their quarry. Rayne fired off another shot from her ARM, the bullet slamming into the head of another bear and causing it to tumble. That was three down. The remaining five had chosen to go around the hill now, instead of braving up it towards these two new individuals. Luceid was already hot on their trails, latching onto the leg of a lesser bear and taking it down as he climbed to go for a death bite. Rayne was chasing after the other four, aiming Desperado at the Frenzy. She fired. However, the Frenzy managed to swerve himself, the bullet whizzing off into the night. _How can it dodge without even looking?!_ Rayne thought, quickly taking another shot. Once more the bear avoided the blast, then turned behind the barn at the end of the property, out of sight. Skidding to a halt, Rayne flipped Desperado so that its bullet clip was visible. Two shots left. Cursing, Rayne chased after the two lesser bears and took a shot. One hit home, causing the bear to tumble. The other bear was obviously tired of running, stopping suddenly and charging Rayne! The young woman barely had time to jump to the side to avoid the death-bringing claws, rolling and then firing as she stood. The bullet thunked into its shoulder, but was not a killing blow. And now Rayne was out of ammo. As the bear turned to exact revenge on her, Luceid leapt up from behind, tackling the beast to the ground and snapping its spine between fangs crushing its neck. Rayne stood quickly, popped open the ammo clip again and producing a fresh clip from her cloak. She barely had time to put the clip in before the Frenzy reappeared, its claws tearing through her cloak and just barely missing taking off her shoulder. Luceid howled and tackled the Frenzy, giving Rayne time to roll back and take aim. She popped off two shots into the Frenzied bear, blood flying as they hit home in the beast's stomach. But even that wasn't enough to stop it. With a deceptively simple swing, it caught Luceid in the side and sent the wolf flying into the side of the barn. Rayne backed up as the bear howled and growled, then charged at her. She had one choice. Pointing Desperado at the charging bear, she slid her hand up the top of the ARM and activated the attachment, pulling the trigger.

"Bang."

To describe the sound that transpired next as simply a 'bang' would be as to describe meeting a Guardian as 'interesting.' Certainly, there were more descriptive, powerful words that had been thought up and created just for the purpose of describing a sound of this nature and magnitude. However, whenever Rayne activated gatling raid, that was the only word that could come to her head to describe it; 'bang'. With a deafening explosion, the four remaining bullets in Rayne's ARM exploded out of the top barrel, spiraling into the chest of the Frenzied bear. Perhaps singularly, one or two bullets could never hurt the beast. However, the force of all four striking at the same time, with the added power of the attachment itself caused the bullets not only to dig into the Frenzied bear, but through it and out the other side, leaving a gaping hole where ribs might once have been. The bear stopped its charge, life leaving its eyes as it collapsed first to its knees, paws going to instinctively cover the wound, then fall forward dead. It had been dead when the short first hit, of course. It just took the bear a few moments to notice. Rayne lowered her now sore wrist, blowing the smoke away from the barrel of Desperado. The recoil on that was enough to break any lesser gunman's hand. But, it couldn't be helped when dealing with so much power. Luceid padded up not long after, shaking his wild fur. He was more or less unharmed, if not a little bruised from the strike he received.

"Another day another Frenzy, eh?" she asked him.

Luceid only looked up at her with agreement in his eyes. Together, and not before reloading and tucking away her ARM, Rayne and Luceid proceeded back to the farmer's house and knocked on the door twice. The door was opened by Bill, looking spooked, if not relieved that the two he had hired were still alive.

"What happened out there? I heard these dreadful sounds…"

"Eight bears down. Looks like they were being led by a Frenzy." She explained, making sure her cloak was on tightly, "They won't be bothering you anymore."

Bill nodded, and produced a small sack that he handed to Rayne. Inside, Rayne knew, were eight hundred coins, just like she had requested. She knew she probably should have charged more for the Frenzy. After all, it wasn't often she had to unload two full clips in a simple monster hunt. But, Rayne was, if not anything else, a woman of her word. She took the coin and bowed her head, turning with Luceid to walk back towards Quill.

"I never got your name, stranger." Bill said, the gratitude obvious in his voice.

"Rayne," she replied, waving her hand before replacing her wide-brimmed hat and resting a palm on Luceid, walking off just as they had walked into town.

_Author's Notes: This just kind of came to me during the day and I decided to put it to paper. It's a combination of effort between me and another who wishes to remain anonymous. We shall for the time call him "Jebidiah". So while I do all the writing, a lot of the concepts are a joint effort between "Jebidiah" and myself._


	3. Chapter 2: ARMs Meister

_Disclaimer: I do not own Wild ARMs. I do own the original characters and ideas expressed within. I also own my co-author's free time, but that is neither here nor there._

**Chapter 2: ARMs Meister**

If one was to approach an average citizen of Filgaia and ask them "What is an ARM?", the average response would be "Why, its that thing you hold your food with." While technically that is a 'hand', the point remains clear that people in the world did not know very much about the weapons of their ancestors. Of course, there are those more than aware of the destructive capability of the machines of their past. If the same question was asked to one of them, they could tell you instantly: "ARM? That's an Ancient Relic Machine."

Indeed, that is what ARM stands for. Centuries ago during the great wars of the world, humans and a race known as the Elw conspired together to create incredible technology and even more incredible weapons. Now, many "experts" believe that all ARMs come in one form: that of the gun model most commonly found in ruins and excavations. This, of course, is simply not true. There were many varieties of ARMs in the ancient times, from the gun model to advanced tracking devices to even weapons of mass destruction. While it is true that the gun models are most commonly found, true ARMs researchers know that finding one is only the tip of an iceberg, and that much grander models existed.

Now, there is a reason that ARMs are not a commonly accepted research area in modern Filgaia. This stems from the stigma on all ancient technology that was put into place almost directly after the great war of centuries past. ARMs were powerful, yes, but it said that it was through ARMs that the Great Blaze, ravager of Filgaia, permanently scorched the world into eternal desert. Only through the use of a weapon known as the Guardian Blade was the Great Blaze finally vanquished. This became the common theology of the people of Filgaia: the most powerful weapons and technology in Filgaia only served to hurt it, while a mere sword struck down the source of all sins. Of course, Guardian Blade was no "mere sword", but that is beside the point. The fact of the matter is, ARMs are viewed by most as the source of all sin. Indeed, they were the physical manifestations of the Great Blaze himself.

What does that say about those who use them? Sure, to study ARMs can be justified as a study of the mistakes of the past, so that they are not to be corrected. While that is almost never the case, it sounds good when explaining oneself to others. But what about those who go beyond the study of ARMs and actually pick one up, loading it and pulling the trigger? For the most part, this notion is considered preposterous. ARMs were made to synchronize with very specific aspects of humans very long ago, and such aspects are long gone from modern society. That is what most of the public believes, anyway. The truth is far from that is believed. In fact, there are those who can pick up an ARM and just instantly synchronize with it, activating its ancient powers in their own hands. These people are viewed as demons. Why shouldn't they be? After all, to be able to use a manifestation of a demon must make those who use them demons themselves.

Not surprisingly, the few people in the world that could use ARMs made very sure to hide that fact from the populace. Most who accidentally discovered the gift, and it is very much a gift, of using ancient relic machines quickly tried to forget it and live their lives normally. There are others, though, that choose to embrace the power given to them. These people are known as the ARMs Meisters. While not all of them particularly study into the details of their gift, they accept that they are indeed special and use it to their full advantage. This type of meister would describe Edward Rodingson. Edward discovered at an early age he could wield ARMs, having found his first in a cave hidden deep under the city in which he lived, Saint Centaur. Not only this, but Edward found that he could push his ARM to an extent that should not be possible. If the ARM was strong, he made it stronger. If it was fast, he made it faster. And if it was destructive, then, it was made more destructive. Edward's gift with ARMs was that he could make an ARM better just by holding it, and many others became jealous of that ability. Thus, he earned his nickname: Envy.

There was a flaw to Edward's prowess, of course. While he could push an ARM beyond its limit, he had a limited synchronization with any ARM he used. A small variety of choices, but all incredibly powerful weapons. This was Edward's expertise. Rayne Montgomery had a very different gift with ARMs. She too could use the mighty relics, and was quite skilled at their wielding. However, she decided to research her gift, and the weapons it allowed her to use. She became a true scholar of ARMs, studying how they were built, what they could do, and all the varieties they had. More so, Rayne found that by just picking up an ARM, she could feel how it worked, and more importantly, how it could be improved. Yes, there were few who could use ARMs. But there were even fewer who could understand and build them herself. Truly, in a different time, Rayne would have been recognized as a real ARMs Meister, a master of her craft. As she learned more about her gift, she learned more and more how to tap into the powers of the ARMs and customize them to her own needs. That was how Desperado came to be.

By all intents, Desperado would appear to be a less impressive example of the technology of old. By the standards of other meisters, it was quite simple: a six bullet clip with a single barrel and trigger firing mechanism. All common gun type ARMs possessed this, at least. But Desperado was truly extraordinary in that it was _not_ an ancient piece of technology that was found in a ruin. Rayne had build Desperado from the ground up. She had spent years in her childhood collecting the pieces with her parents, who were themselves archaeologists. The more pieces she found, the more Rayne grew to understand them. And soon, she had fashioned Desperado from the remnants of old technology long since rendered useless. This was not the only reason this weapon was amazing, however.

Desperado was also limitlessly customizable. Unlike Edward, who improved of the power of the few ARMs he could wield, Rayne had found there was no limit to the types of ARMs she could use. Indeed, she found all the ancient technology was at her disposal. And as she found more pieces, she realized that as good as Desperado was, she could make it better. So she created Desperado to be able to integrate many different attachments into itself, offering new attack modes and abilities that a single ARM could never keep up with. The first of these was gatling raid. By building an extra thick, wider barrel on top of the main barrel, she could link the bullet clip to it and allow the entire clip to be fired at once, instead of in six successive shots. Why would one large blast be better than six separate ones? Because in addition to unloading the entire clip, the gatling raid drew upon the personal strength of the wielder, adding an extra 'oomph' to the shot that usually resulted in a demolished wall, or blade bear as it were. While it was true all ARMs drew on a little bit of the personal energy of the wielder, it was usually insignificant. This allowed lot of energy to be put into one shot that released up to six equally powerful bullets. Without question, it was her crowning achievement.

Her second achievement was the attachment known as the shotgun. She added a short pump action trigger to the bottom of an ARM that, upon firing, shattered the bullet used into shrapnel, allowing a wide arc of powerful shots. As before, this drew more firmly upon the user's personal strength, but the result was well worth it. Rayne was very surprised, as well, when she discovered Edward was able to use the attachment, even though he was unable to use Desperado, or any ARM it would seem, except his own. So Rayne had spent a great deal of time, and eventually integrated the shotgun permanently into Edward's ARM so that he could make use of it. This made his betrayal on the train all the more painful, as Rayne and her team were stabbed in the back by a device that she herself had built.

Why Rayne had been thinking about all this that night, she would never know. She awoke, as she usually did, to the nonexistent sound of the shotgun going off, tearing through her flesh and changing her life in the time it took to fall from the train to the tracks. She pushed her hat off her face and looked to her side. In the slowly dimming firelight, she was Luceid sleeping soundly by her side, tail twitching in whatever dream he was having. As it always did when she awoke, her hand slid down to the holster at her side, feeling the all too familiar curves and trigger of Desperado. This gave her comfort, because just as Luceid had become entwined with her feelings and thoughts, Desperado had become an extension of her will, and indeed, her entire being. Desperado was as much a part of her as her heart or brain.

Somehow sensing that his mistress was awake and disturbed, Luceid nudged her lightly and crawled closer, pressing his fur and warmth to her and then settling down comfortably again. Rayne smiled tiredly, stroking her constant companion's back before looking up at the sky. She was special, and she knew this. Edward was special as well. By all means, they should have been two peas in a pod, accepting one another for what they were, and supporting one another through thick and thin. Then why had he betrayed her in this manner? What could she have possibly done to deserve it?

Morning came surprisingly quickly to one who could not sleep, and what little possessions were used to make camp was quickly packed up. Rayne spent a little time with her toolkit, adjusting a screw or setting on Desperado as she always did. After all, even the most powerful weapons in Filgaia needed basic maintenance or risk falling into disrepair. As she made the final adjustments, Luceid whined. Looking to him, she could tell he had been ready to move for quite some time. Not denying the wolf his desires eve, she holstered Desperado and stood, pulling her cloak on and her hat upon her head. Placing a firm hand upon his back, as always, Sin and Desire started their day as they did every other day: wandering to a new destination, not sure what they would find.

_Author's Notes: This little tidbit is mostly to give an idea of how I am presenting ARMs in the story, and a look into the unique characteristics of Rayne and Edward (Envy). Though not real plot advancement, it's a glimpse at a typical 'night in-between' for Rayne and Luceid._


	4. Chapter 3: For Love of Money

_Disclaimer: I do not own Wild ARMs any more now than I did when I wrote the last chapter. I do own the original characters and concepts, however. Bwuahehe._

**Chapter 3: For Love of Money**

On the edge of the mountains of the Frontier was a fairly large city, as far as cities in the wide open plains went. This city's name was Coravent. However, it was known much more widely as 'Cross Rroads', for you see, Coravent was the center of four of the largest trade routes in the territory. To continue to the north through the mountains, one would find themselves in the territory of the sacred shrine of Grudiev, guardian of the earth. A large portion of Coravent's trade goods went there, to keep the shrine, and the village surrounding it, happy and healthy. To the west started the long road to the High Forest, where the village of Adalaskar was built in the very limbs of the ancient trees there, some older than recordable history would permit measurable. To the east was the long and boring dirt trail to villages such as Quill, and often traveling merchants would leave from Coravent to make the rounds through the small villages, selling their wares and making a hefty profit to boot. To the south was the main road, however. A popular route used by all travelers because it connected Coravent to Frontier Station, the unofficial "capitol" of Frontier and the only working train station in the plains.

So when looking at it logically, with so many roads leading to Cross Roads, it would not surprise anyone that a certain dream chaser and her wolf would have wandered in two days ago. After all, if Frontier Station was the unofficial capitol of the Frontier, then Cross Roads was the unofficial capitol of dream chasers and wanderers. By day the streets were filled with the honest, hard working folk that were resident of the town and the surrounding lands. However, by night the streets were filled with a variety of folk of all shapes and sizes, some less desirable than others. It was on such a night that Rayne and Luceid were wandering the streets, cloak pulled tightly around her shoulders and wide-brim hat covering her eyes as best as she was able. She tried to hustle herself through the crowd, but to do so at any faster pace than a leisurely walk would be to bump into someone, and people at night didn't take kindly to being bumped into. Down the street, Rayne could make out a large neon sign depicting a scantily clad woman holding a knee to her chest, the magical lights making her to wink at the crowd. This was the Temptress, a popular gentlemen's club, or strip joint if you don't enjoy covering up the truth. And strangely, this was Rayne's destination as she pushed through the large door of the building and into a smoky room that smelled of cigars and liquor. In the center of the large open room was a stage, where a young woman danced before a group of on-looking men who eagerly awaited each drum beat, which seemed to signal that the young woman would discard another piece of her clothing. It was like watching a dog mill around, bored and disinterested, and then to suddenly have them hear the dog chow rustle, sending them into a frenzy of barks and whines.

"Can I help you?"

Looking to her left was a small bald man behind a glass booth, with two very large and muscular men standing on either side, arms crossed over their black and grey suits. Rayne approached, looking around to make sure that no other customers were in earshot, then she leans down and said quietly: "I'm here to see One Eye."

"I see." The bald man replied, staring at her.

Rayne sighed, slipping out a small pouch and sliding it discretely into the booth. The balding man opened it, counting out fifty coins and a small red token, to which he smiled and nodded, motioning with a hand.

"Third door by the stage. You can't miss it. The word of the day is applesauce."

"…Applesauce?"

"Hey, I couldn't make this up if I wanted to."

Agreeing with the logic in that statement at least, Rayne nodded to the man and headed into the room itself. If the smell was bad by the entrance, it was suffocating in the middle. The men around her, some in formal suits, others in farmer's wear, were all hooting and hollering to the blonde woman on stage that was advertised as 'Ginger Snap'. Rolling her eyes slightly, Rayne briskly made her way through tables to the area behind the stage, approaching the third door as she was told, to find an iron frame with a small hatch for viewing from outside the room. Rayne didn't believe they could be any more cliché.

"Knock knock." Rayne muttered.

"Password?" said a voice as the hatch slid open, two blue eyes staring out at her.

"Applesauce."

The door opened up after the sound of many metal locks sliding out of place. The man behind the door was actually a skinny older gentleman, with suspenders and a bright red bow tie. Lucky that she wasn't trying to break in by force, she thought to herself. Proceeding down a hallway with Luceid behind her, Rayne caught a glimpse of a few rooms on the sides, each containing one manner of illegality or another: a gambling table, betting stall, and she could swear she saw a larger room with people cheering around what she assumed were two animals fighting. But no, what Rayne wanted was all the way at the end of this hallway. Beyond the door was a young man sitting hunched over an ARM, wearing a pair of glasses with tiny magnifying devices covering one another over the right eye. Rayne smiled a bit and knocked on the door frame, causing the man to turn and grin upon seeing who was doing the knocking.

"Ms. Montgomery!" he said, standing, "How good it is to see you again!"

"Hey there, Roger. How're the wife and kids?" Rayne asked as she stepped into the room, arms crossed.

"Still bleeding me for child support." Roger snickered, taking off his glasses. It was only then one might notice that Roger had a distinct lacking of a left eye, "So what can I do you for today?"

"Just need to restock some of my supplies…casings, powder. You know, the usual."

Roger nodded knowingly and walked over to a cabinet, opening up what would be an ARMs meister's dream come true. Stacks upon stacks of bullet casings, pouches of gunpowder, various small devices one would use to clean, maintain, or work on an ARM of any shape size or context. Slowly, Roger started to pick out various pieces from his collection, obviously taking the time to consider which were the best for his current customer. Rayne smiled admirably to him, appreciating the effort as she stroked Luceid behind the ear. As usual, the attention caused the wolf to look up, and then back to whoever else was in the room, tail thumping the ground now and then in appreciation.

"You know, I have a job you might be interested in." Roger mentioned, as he started to place the supplies he gathered into a leather case.

"What kind of job? And if it's any job involving your nether regions, I do believe I declined once already."

"Hah!" Roger said with a laugh, "No no, I learned my lesson, Rayne. This one is legit. "

"Do tell." Rayne replied. She could never have enough coin in her pocket, after all.

"Well, turns out there's some ruins in the base of the mountain nearby. Look pretty ancient, too. Maybe even from the Great War!"

"So what, you need me to walk around and find any salvage for you?" Rayne asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well, that. But also, there's supposedly an ARMs lab in there! I'd like you to see if there's anything of note left. Could really help me out."

"Pay?"

"Fifteen hundred sound fair?" Roger asked, offering out the leather case.

"Done." She said as she took it. That was about as good as a handshake, after all.

So after working out the finer details of the location of the ruins, Rayne gave Roger enough money to cover the expenses of the items she purchased, which was not a small sum to say the least. She then proceeded back to her room at an inn near the gate to town, closing the door behind her and locking it. Luceid instantly went to the side of the bed, laying down, though keeping his head perked, staring off as if in his own thoughts. Rayne sat down and began the lengthy process of replenishing her equipment. The gunpowder was added to the bullet casing, which was then sealed shut and carefully weighed to make sure it had the appropriate amount of boom in it. After every bullet, using a small chisel, she would draw her insignia into the base of the bullets; a pair of wings intertwined around an ARM. Though she didn't ever expect anyone to ever use her bullets, let alone notice the insignia on them, she was still proud of her work, and like every artist, had to sign her masterpieces. She worked long into the night, producing a good twenty bullets before cleaning Desperado, loading up, and then sleeping herself.

The ancient ruins of the times long since gone by were awe-inspiring to Julian. After all, he had only gotten to see such things through books or hear about them in lecture. Running a hand over a half-broken tablet written in incomprehensible writing, Julian smiled to himself. This was like being immersed in history itself. It was too bad he technically was not allowed to be here.

Julian was a priest. Not just any priest, however. Julian was a brother of Grudiev, the guardian of earth. As such, he had spent the beginnings of his life growing up in the great shrine of Grudiev, which left little to no room for life outside the shrine. Learning crest sorcery was of course a huge endeavor and keeping up with constant studies, new discoveries, and protection of the sacred relic left little time for a life outside of the priesthood. However, to Julian, it was all worth it to further the cause of protecting the sacred rites of the Guardians. That was why he had left the shrine without telling anyone.

Julian had heard that these ruins were from the time of the Great War, when Guardians, humans, and elws all worked together to stop the demon race. So of course, he had volunteered to go research and catalogue the ruins. Strangely, however, his superiors forbade any of the priesthood from entering the ruins. In fact, the shrine had been put on high alert and security had been doubled. A strange way to react to an amazing discovery, Julian had thought. But it was no matter. He was sure when he brought back new revelations about the Guardians that the shrine wouldn't punish him for sneaking out. And so here he was, walking in the darkness of what seemed to be an entire city below the mountain range. This in itself was quite disconcerting, Julian admitted, but what was even more bizarre was the state of the ruins. The cave that lead under the mountain stopped on a ledge which overlooked the ancient metropolis. From what Julian could see, the ruins were obliterated in the center, with more and more debris and solid objects the further out one looked. It looked like a huge explosion had rocked the city and spread outwards, wrecking complete havoc. Once down inside the city, Julian felt as if he were walking in a grave yard, though no bodies were to be seen. Only the steady drip of water somewhere in the distance and the crumbled buildings were his company. Of course, and whoever was making those footsteps behind him.

Footsteps behind him? Julian turned around and ducked just in time to avoid something whizzing past where his head was. Standing not ten feet away was a tall figure dressed in a stark white cloak, wearing a golden mask depicting some great beast with open jaw and fangs bared. What caught Julian's attention more, however, was the fact that the figure's feet were not touching the ground, nor could they even be seen. Indeed, the figure was floating a good foot above the ground, the palm of his hand aimed at Julian.

"What are you trying to do?!" Julian exclaimed.

"You do not belong here, guardian's pet." The figure replied in a cool, effeminate male voice.

"These ruins aren't owned by anyone! You can't try to kill me just for coming down here!"

"I can try to kill you for whatever reason I deem worthy." The figure replied, a tone of laughter in his voice.

Then came the blades through the air. Somehow, this man had summoned three javelins of energy that whirled through the air towards Julian. Julian barely had time to put two fingers in front of himself and summon a wall of earth from below him before the javelins struck, shattering the wall, and sending him skidding back a few feet. Chanting again, Julian threw his hand out and a wave of earth rose from the ground, flinging a large chuck of boulder at the figure. To Julian's dismay, the boulder went through the cloth, smashing the garment and the mask against a cave wall, only to reveal nothing within them. Then he caught a glimpse of white behind him, and leapt to the side ad three more javelins punctured the ground where he was, causing an explosion of sorts. The figure, white robe and mask, was floating ten feet away again. How had he done that? Julian placed his hands on the ground, pulling up two large boulders this time and sending them whizzing towards the man. This time, the man simply disappeared before the boulders made contact. The last thing Julian remembered was seeing that and realizing his opponent was not human, before feeling something hit his head and falling into unconsciousness.

The entrance to the ruins were not something that inspired one to think that anything lied beyond them besides bats and guano. But, a job was a job to Rayne, and she proceeded through the cavern with Luceid at her side, coming to a halt upon a ledge that looked over the entirety of the ruined city below. There was something oddly familiar about it, though she could not put her finger on exactly was 'it' was, or why it was even familiar. Luceid looked down to the ruins, then up to Rayne expectantly. Rayne smiled and scratched behind his ear.

"Let's just have a look around and head back." Rayne said.

Luceid gave silent agreement, following Rayne down the natural staircase that lead through the back of a large building on the outskirts of the city. There were pieces of debris everywhere, though most of the main road seemed intact. And lucky for Rayne, the main road seemed to lead directly towards the crater in the center of town. If this town did have an ancient ARMs lab, then it would be towards the center of town. While walking down the road, however, a glint of gold caught her eyes from a wall. Approaching to investigate, she found the shattered remains of a golden mask and a white robe, buried under the rubble of a rock.

"You'd think it would have rotted away after thousands of years." Rayne said to herself, touching the fabric.

Luceid looked at the material, smelling it before growling low. Rayne looked to her companion then stood, her hand sliding instinctively over Desperado under her cloak. She had understood Luceid's meaning well enough through the growl. That cloak and mask were not old. They were recent additions to this ruin. With a new sense of alertness, Rayne proceeded down the main road once more, hazel eyes darting between buildings and alleyways to make sure an ambush would not surprise her completely off guard. Luceid's hair was on end and he stuck to Rayne's side as close as he could, his own amber eyes surveying the area. Luckily, they both saw it in time and at the precisely right moment.

Ahead was a horned creature covered in spines, sitting on all fours. It would almost pass for a cross between a wolf and a porcupine. Rayne recognized the breed instantly: Spine Hounds. Generally, they were forest dwellers and didn't come anywhere near human lands. It only took one look at its eyes for Rayne to understand why it was here, however. It bore the familiar red taint of a Frenzy. Ear perking, she looked to her left to see another hound on top of a building, while Luceid looked right to spot one climbing out of the ruined wall of another building. Three frenzies in one place? What had they stumbled into?

All three creatures pounced in unison, covering at least ten feet with their lunge. Rayne leapt back while Luceid leapt to the right to meet one hound head on. Aiming her ARM, she fired off a bullet that thunked into one hound's shoulder, but did very little to slow it down. Luceid narrowly avoided a vicious bite from the hound and swung his own over-sized claws at the beast. He tore through flesh and muscle, but also felt the sting of the spines left in his paw. The two hounds not preoccupied with Lucied leapt at Rayne, one going for her legs, the other for her arm. Rayne managed to leap above the leg attack, landing her boots into the hound's snout, and raised her arm to the other hound's mouth. She couldn't avoid it, but she would lessen the blow. The hound's teeth sunk into the reinforced padding of Rayne's cloak. It hurt, but while it was chewing, Rayne lifted Desperado to the side of the chewer's head and pulled the trigger, gore splattering out from the other side of its skull as it went limp.

Luceid backed up from a claw from the hound on him, sliding forward and biting up towards the hound's neck. Lucky for him, the underside of these beasts did not seem to be covered in spines, and Luceid's fangs sunk into the neck flesh enough for Luceid to easily tear out its throat, the beast lying still with only a twitch or two. Rayne kicked the last remaining hound in his face as it tried to lunge at her again, giving her some room to fire off two shots. The first hit its front leg, causing it to collapse…right into the second bullet, which pierced its head and ended its frenzied life. She breathed in heavily, opening her clip and replacing four bullets into it before snapping it shut and looking at her injured arm. The teeth just caused a minor wound through the cloak, but it still hurt terribly. Luceid padded up to her side, nudging her to make sure she was alright. Rayne smiled, and nodded.

"Just a scratch…someone doesn't want people down here." Rayne explained, slowly forming a grin, "That makes me want to explore it even more."

The same devilish grin could be felt coming from Luceid, who understood his mistress' intent without second thought. Keeping Desperado out in her right hand now, the two started back on their journey towards the center of the city. It was only an hour more until they arrived; standing on the edge of a crater caused by whatever had leveled this town. An almost perfect circle, Rayne surmised. Which meant that whatever had caused the explosion was either set in the center of town, or came from above. Looking up, it was hard to imagine that this city had ever existed in open air, now being covered by mountain. Yet, judging from the explosion, the city would have to have been outside. Perhaps the mountain was a result of whatever happened here? After all, a few thousands years is a long time.

Perking her ear, Rayne slowly started to make out the sound of voices. One was deep, muffled by something. The other was clearly male, but feminine and cool in melody. The voices seemed to be coming from a one story building near the edge of the crater that was, miraculously, completely intact. Sneaking over to a window, Rayne glanced through the glass window into the interior. This looked to be the ARMs lab she had been looking for, though she imagined it went into basement levels. Standing in the room was a tall man wearing a black cloak and wearing a jade mask depicting a nasty creature with fangs revealed. Standing, no, floating, next to that man was a figure in a white robe with a golden mask, not unlike the one she found in the city. Behind them, strapped to a chair, was an unconscious youth. He appeared to have dusty brown hair, and wore robes tinged with yellow triangles about it. She recognized the pattern, of course. He was a priest of the Guardians. But why would these two be holding a Father captive?

"Anything?" the man in the jade mask asked.

"I'm afraid not. Only a few ARMs that are not even operable anymore." The gold masked man explained.

"Damn. He is not going to be very pleased with this outcome." The jade masked man replied, "Kill the priest. I have other business to attend to."

With that, the jade masked man stepped backwards into a green mass of tendrils that sprung from nowhere, enveloping him then disappearing, he included. The gold masked man sighed, raising a hand to generate what seemed to be a javelin of energy. Luceid scuffed the ground nervously. He was right. Now was about time to step in. Taking a step back, Rayne rushed forward, cloak protecting her as she leapt through the window, rolled to her feet, and aimed Desperado at the robed man. Luceid was soon to follow, growling viciously. Though she could not see his face, Rayne got the distinct pleasure that he was caught off-guard.

"Drop the spear and back up!" Rayne commanded.

"A mortal trying to order _me_ around?" the man laughed, "I'm afraid you have sealed your fate."

He threw the javelin forward towards Rayne, who narrowly managed to avoid it. The javelin struck the wall behind them and exploded, making this lab an open air facility. This more than surprised Rayne, and she now had the distinct displeasure that he liked that. Spinning Desperado up, she fired off two shots. They both pierced through the robes, and the robed figure staggered back, obviously having not expected them to strike. From beneath that mask Rayne could make out twin blue eyes glaring at her.

"How did those hit me…unless…" he said quietly, "ARMs."

"You sure like the sound of your own voice." Rayne commented as she fired off twice more, the arms of the robes now struck.

The man moved to get up, despite the thick red liquid pouring from his wounds, but Luceid quickly made sure that was not an option, pouncing him into a wall, claws digging deep. After all, this man had attacked his mistress. There was no mercy for those who committed such a transgression. Luceid felt odd, though. This was not an ordinary man. A point made as Luceid was flung back by an explosion of light, slamming into a desk and laying on his side, smoke rising from his form. Eyes narrowed, Rayne fired off her last two shots into the neck and leg, or at least what she assumed was his leg, of the man. Blood gushed, but still he didn't seem too affected as he conjured two javelins, throwing them both at Rayne. While she managed to avoid the first, the second touched down too close to her to avoid. The explosion sent her out the building, rolling along the ground cursing. She knew he was floating up to finish her. And she knew Desperado was empty. She needed a distraction. Anything. The man was above her now, javelin in hand…

…And then slammed by a fist that flew from the ground. She looked up to the building to see the priest conscious, chanting. She only assumed he created the fist. The floating man turned to the priest quickly, conjuring a javelin – or would have. Rayne reloaded Desperado with a well-practiced flick of the wrist, snapping the clip shut and aiming. Her hand slid over the top of the ARM, and with a large amount of satisfaction, whispered: "Bang." Gatling raid fired off with its usual whirring of bullets, all six shots flying out of the top barrel and tearing a huge whole through the center of the man…and the wall beyond him…and probably the wall beyond that. The javelin instantly dissipated as he looked down to his wound, his blood pooling below his hovering form, staining his white robes. He turned back to look at Rayne – how was he still alive? – and say softly:

"You won this round, mortal. But it shall be Kelvar that drinks victory from your skull."

With that, golden mist surrounded Kelvar and he slowly disappeared into it, gone in a second. Standing up, Rayne winced and held her side. He had gotten her good in that tumble she did, and she was not up to doing too strenuous work. At least for now. Luceid was already up, shaking himself of the dust from his own collapse. It always amazed Rayne how that wolf could take a beating then get up a few moments later like nothing had ever happened. She threw the wolf a proud grin, who returned the gesture with a tail wag.

"Umm…excuse me?"

Oh yeah. Rayne had almost completely forgotten about the priest tied up to the chair. Reloading Desperado, she holstered it and walked into the building, drawing a small dagger from her boot and cutting the ropes binding the fellow.

"Sorry about that, Father. Was kind of distracted." Rayne explained.

"It's…it's alright." He said, as he rubbed his wrists now that they were free, "Father?"

"That's what you call a man of the cloth, right? My parents taught me a little respect." Rayne said with a chuckle.

"Oh, it is, just…not a lot of people pay respect to manners anymore." He explained, bowing, "Thank you for saving my life."

"Anytime. What were you doing down here anyway?"

"I had heard these ruins were from the time of the Great War, so I came to see if it offered any insights into our history." The priest explained sullenly, "All I found was that man assaulting me."

"Yeah, I hear ya. Never seen anyone pull the tricks he did." Rayne said, moving over to examine a few broken ARMs pieces strewn about, "I'm Rayne Montgomery, by the way."

"Brother Julian. A pleasure, sister Rayne."

"No sister. Just Rayne."

"Very well, Rayne…" Julian said, pausing a moment, "Was that...that thing you wielded…was it really…?"

"An ARM? Yup." Rayne replied, picking up a few salvageable pieces and tucking them into her pack, "Listen, I pretty much got what I came for, so I'm going to head out. You want to come with, or you staying here?"

"There's nothing for me down here…thank you."

So the three vacated the city ruins and ventured out into the light of day once more. Strangely, Rayne noticed, Luceid didn't seem put off by Julian. Usually he hated other people, but this priest had managed to walk with them without as much as a protest from the picky wolf. Taking it as a sign, Rayne let herself relax a little for the remainder of the walk into Cross Roads. It was early afternoon, so the streets were mostly deserted. This was fine by Rayne for now, since it meant she could get a drink in peace and relax until the evening when she could go get her payoff from Roger. The priest seemed a little unsure what to do once they got back, turning to Rayne and bowing again.

"Thank you again for helping me."

"Like I said, don't sweat it, Father." Rayne replied, "I think this is where we part ways. Good luck with your fact finding and such."

"Indeed. Grudiev guide your steps, Rayne."

With another bow, the priest was off down the road, assumedly out of town. This didn't bother Rayne much, as she headed right back to her room after with a bottle of whiskey and some ice for her side. There she spent her day with Luceid, trying to get a little strength back so she could head to Roger's that evening. As such, it was unexpected for a knock to come at her door only fifteen minutes before she was to leave. Picking up Desperado, she approached the door, Luceid by her side…and opening the door, she found none other than Julian.

"Father? What're you doing here?"

Julian's voice was deserate, matched by the look of dread in his eyes. "Please, Rayne…I need your help!"

_Author's notes: I'm not sure why, but I enjoyed describing the adventure in the city. I have a really cool image of it in my head, and I hope I portrayed it correctly. Please, review the story so I can know what I'm doing right or what I can improve on!_


	5. Chapter 4: The Shrine of Earth

_Disclaimer: I don't own Wild ARMs. I do own the original character and concepts. Blah blah blah._

**Chapter 4: The Shrine of Earth**

Rayne had to admit, it was getting pretty cold that evening. A chilling breeze passed through the little valley she and Julian had camped in for the night, and it more than once caused her to shiver despite herself. Luceid for his part was doing his best to comfort his mistress, staying close so his warm fur was against her. This and the fire helped tremendously, but every now and then she'd still shiver up and down once. Julian seemed almost immune to the cold, sitting in the grassy patch by the fire, tending to it slowly, wordlessly. He hadn't spoken much since they left Cross Roads, though Rayne figured it was with good reason. After all, he had come to her the night before they left and hired her with promises of money that made her head spin.

Rayne had opened the door to her room to find Julian standing in the hall, a look of fright and despair in his eyes. He had offered her a job. So, of course, Rayne humored the young priest and ushered him into her little inn room, closing the door behind him and offering Julian something to drink.

"No, thank you…I don't drink."

"Suit yourself." Rayne said, downing the glass she had prepared for him, "Now what's this about a job?"

"I would like to hire you…to escort me back to the Shrine of Grudiev." Julian explain, "And to perhaps stay there for awhile as a hired guard."

"Not sure you holy types are very keen on ARMs users in your temples." Rayne pointed out, placing the glass down and taking a seat, followed by Luceid.

"I know…but I saw how you handled that man…and I think he might be attacking the shrine."

"You think? What, did he say something to that effect?" Rayne asked.

"No…I…I dreamt it. This afternoon, I fell asleep suddenly, and saw the shrine being attacked by large, red-eyed creatures, and…and demons." Julian told her, saying the last part in a hushed voice.

"Demons?" This had Rayne's attention now, "They're all extinct. Have been since the war."

"I know…but I saw them. They were being led by that man in the gold mask." Julian shook his head as he paused for a moment, "I know how crazy it sounds…but it was so real. So I am willing to hire your services. You're a dream chaser, right?"

"Yeah. How much are we talking?" Rayne relented, leaning back on the back two pegs o her chair.

"Five thousand coins, and two hundred for every monster you have to face in our defense."

Now at that Rayne almost fell out of her seat, and she was a master at keeping her balance. Five thousand coins?! That was enough to buy her very own laboratory! Not that she would, but the point of the statement was still there. And two hundred per monster? Hell, if demons really DID exist she would have still taken up that offer! Trying her best to look calm about it, she turned to look at Julian again and nodded.

"That sounds fair." Rayne said, "When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible!"

"Alright. Tomorrow morning, crack of dawn. See you then."

And that was how she ended up two days out into the mountains with the silent priest and wolf. She had managed to turn in the ARMs components she found to Roger, who paid her handsomely. Unfortunately, a lot of that money went to repairing her cloak, ARMs maintenance and supplies for the trip, as mountain travel could be down right dangerous. She used the supplies she bought from Roger to fashion five specially designed bullets that would burst into a bright light for a short time. Getting lost in the mountains was not her idea of a good time, and these flares would definitely help with that. Meanwhile, she had to deal with the sullen priest, who's only response to her questions of directions were "Its over that ridge". Which ridge? There were hundreds of ridges! Rayne almost got angry, but then remembered in the end, this really wasn't her problem. Either way, she got paid.

No, what had started to get her down right anxious was Luceid. Usually the wolf was a bundle of life on a trip, or going to new destination. But since the events in the ruined city, he had become drawn back and quiet. Of course he didn't relent in his perceived duties towards his, mistress, but it wasn't his over protectiveness that she loved about him, it was his company. Scratching the distracted beast behind the ear she leaned back into him, pulling her hat over her eyes. The least she could do is try to get some sleep.

"…How do you use it?" Julian's voice asked from across the fire.

"Hm?" Rayne asked, tipping up a corner of her hat to look at him with one eye.

"The ARM…they're forbidden…the tools of the demons…" Julian finished.

"You know, I've heard that a lot." She said as she let her hat drop back down to cover her eyes, "I don't know. I've always been able to. Since I was really little."

"Were people afraid of you…growing up that is?"

"Now that I think about it, not really. I lived in a pretty accepting place. I mean, I didn't go blabbing that I could fire bullets out of a pipe with ancient technology, but the people who did know accepted it." Rayne explained, taking a moment to think on that.

"It must be a nice place." Julian offered.

"It was."

With that cryptic statement, Julian could tell Rayne was done answering questions, and saying a quick prayer, settled down on his seeping mat to catch a few winks himself. It wasn't until morning that they awoke and started once more on their journey towards the shrine, which the next day Julian explained was not too far away. It was better than "over the next ridge", anyway. It wasn't until mid-day that Luceid's placid attitude started to perk up, and Rayne could swear he had become on edge but was trying to hide it.

"Do you smell that?" Julian asked.

"Smell what?"

"Smoke."

"Now that you mention it." Rayne said, sniffing the air, "Yeah, I do."

Julian's eyes widened as he raced ahead of the group, up a ridge that the road went over. Confused, Rayne and Luceid quickly followed to the point he was, and stopped short their tracks. Beyond them was what could have been a beautiful city made of dome-like, earthen structures with a large three-towered shrine in the center. The streets were paved; the houses were all in good condition. This could have been a literal paradise in the Frontier. The only problem was it was burning to the ground.

Not half a mile down the road the city surrounding the great shrine to Grudiev was crumbling and burning before their very eyes. The shrine itself seemed to have taken massive damage from some unknown assault, and from the sounds coming from town, there was a battle still going on. Julian started to run down the road at top speed, which wasn't much considering he was wearing a priest's robes. Rayne tipped her hat back slightly and cursed, before nodding to Luceid and running after the priest. Ten minutes later, they were in the remains of the gates of the city, looking about at the dead bodies, both human and monster, strewn about. Walking over to one of the larger blade bears, she rolled it onto its back and frowned.

"Frenzies." Rayne spat.

"Frenzies? But…how can there be so many? I thought they were rare?!" Julian exclaimed.

"Looks like we underestimated them."

Lucied's incessant growling snapped Rayne back to reality as she looked down the street to see four towering muscled monsters, lower fangs protruding from their lips and saliva dripping down their cheeks. _Hobgoblins_. Drawing Desperado,Rayne and Luceid sprang into action. Two shots from Rayne downed one of the goblins, while Luceid tackled another to the ground, tearing at it viscously. As one punched Rayne in the stomach, luckily blunted by her padded cloak, she noticed the red stains in its eyes.

"They're frenzies too!" Rayne exclaimed, dodging the follow up claw.

"But how? They're not beasts!" Julian replied.

Raising his hands into the air, and uttering an apology to Grudiev, Julian forced the top section of a stone house to slide down directly on top of a goblin, killing it instantly. A single bullet to the chest finished the final one off, leaving them alone once again in the swelteringly hot streets. Rayne reloaded quickly, keeping her wits about her as she looked towards the towering structure of the shrine.

"We need to get there. It's defended, no?" Rayne asked.

"Yes…let's hurry!"

Quickly, the trio raced down the streets of the shrine city, narrowly avoiding debris from an explosion inside one of the houses. Bu the time they reached the shrine, however, they found it guard-less, the doors swung open and off their hinges. Julian's look of fear increased ten fold as he saw his last bastion of hope torn open like the bodies littering the streets.

"They must be after the relic!" Julian cried out.

"Relic?" Rayne asked, proceeding towards the door carefully, Desperado in both hands.

"Yes. Our sacred stone. They must be after it!"

So concerned with the safety of his shrine, Julian didn't even see the look that came over Rayne's face at the mention of the stone. Her eyes narrowed and she looked down to Luceid, who knew instantly her intention and let out a gruff, making it known he was with her all the way. Quickly, Rayne advanced into the shrine's main worship area, finding the pews overturned, the statue of Grudiev shattered, and the bodies of priests left and right. Whatever was leading this invasion, and it was an invasion, was doing it quite well. Julian followed soon after, his hands coming to his mouth to stop himself from screaming.

"Don't go losing it now, Father. We have to get to that stone." Rayne said quickly. She had no time for whimpering.

Julian nodded slightly, swallowing hard and chanting a mantra. Rayne rolled her eyes and proceeded to the back of the room, and up a staircase. A little further up, and she stopped herself, motioning for the others to stop as well. In the middle of the room was the man in the gold mask, as well as a large, bulky man in a black mask wearing a dark black cloak. _What is with the fashion attire on these guys?_ Rayne thought to herself, silently cocking Desperado and listening in on their conversation.

"We've almost breached the inner sanctum. How goes the city?" the gold man asked.

"Very well, Master Kelvar. Almost every soul is accounted for." The black masked man replied, bowing his head.

"Good. Finish up, then report back to Him." Kelvar said, turning and floating up another staircase.

"I'll distract the man in black," Rayne whispered, "You keep going up and try to secure that stone."

Julian nodded and backed up a little, giving Rayne all the room she needed. Looking to Luceid, Rayne ran up the stairs, and into the room, the black masked man's attention still on where Kelvar disappeared to. Taking the perfect situation, Rayne aimed Desperado and fired as precisely aimed shot at the back of the man's head. Unfortunately, the familiar sound of bullet piercing skin was not heard, instead replaced by a metallic clink and grind, the bullet falling to the ground flattened. Slowly, the man turned around, smoke rising off one of his hands. _Could he have deflected it? No, especially not with just one hand…_

"I see that I was not as thorough as I had hoped." The masked man said with a sigh, "I suppose I have to deal with you riff-raff personally."

"I'd be honored if I knew who the hell you were." Rayne stated, keeping her aim on the man.

"Ah, well then." The man said, bowing as he folded not one, but _two_ right arms across his chest, "I am Slade, servant of the demon race."

"Demons?" Rayne asked, starting to move along the wall in a circle formation, keeping Slade in her center, "And what's a big bad ole' demon doing here?"

"Nosey little human, aren't we? No, I think my name was enough. I hope I honored you before you die."

Flinging his cloak off, Slade's strange arm trick was revealed. The bulk of his body was actually the fact that he possessed six arms, four of which were clawed while two were human-like in appearance. Rayne had to admit, there were few things more intimidating than a guy with six arms that looked like they could break you in half. But alas, thinking about it would have to wait until a safer time, as she quickly popped off a shot on the demon. One of his many arms shot up, deflecting the shot with that same metal grinding sound, and Rayne knew now how he stopped her attack.

"I am impressed that an ARM user still exists in this world. But you'll have to forgive me, as I cannot allow you to live." Slade said, sending one arm actually _stretching_ towards her.

"So long as you give me the same courtesy." Rayne replied, ducking under the arm and taking a shot at his underarm.

The shot connected, luckily, blowing that stretching arm off his side and eliciting a growl of displeasure from the demon. Rayne noted it wasn't pain or anger, so much as annoyance, which did little to up her morale for the fight. However, he plan had been a success, as behind the demon she saw Julian scamper up the stairs heading to the relic room. She genuinely hoped that after this was said and done, she could not have to kill him over the stone.

That moment of thought was enough distraction for Rayne to fail to dodge a stretched punch to her stomach, sending her flying back against a wall with surprising power. Gritting her teeth and trying to catch her breath, she fired twice more, but this time into the demon's mask. She knew it didn't damage him, but the hits blinded him for the moment, allowing her a respite to think of what to do. Looking up to the ceiling, she grinned as she realized the stairs lead to another tower…and this room had only roof above it. Holding Desperado up above the demon, she unloaded gatling raid, the remaining two bullets puncturing the center of the domed ceiling with such force that the structural integrity was compromised, sending hundreds of pounds of debris onto the screaming Slade. Rayne was no fool, however, and quickly started to reload Desperado.

It was a good thing too, as five arms burst from the debris, stretching like they had minds of their own and racing at Rayne to claw, scratch, punch, and whatever else they could do to her. Ducking behind some of the debris, she still managed to catch a claw in the right shoulder, sending a shudder of pain through her entire of body. The claw didn't just hurt, it felt agonizing. And this was only a scratch. Deciding not to think about what a full on hit would feel like, Rayne rolled out from the cover, firing off two more shots before diving behind more debris. One shot was deflected, but the other hit one of the clawed arms right in the shoulder, blowing it off with another shout of annoyance from Slade.

"Human, I am growing _very_ impatient with you!" Slade growled, sending his arms to tear apart the debris Rayne was hiding behind, "I think I shall present your skull and ARM to Lord Kelvar when I am through."

"Sorry, but your Kelvar friend already has claim on taking my skull personally." Rayne said with a laugh, rolling from the cover to fire two more shots.

The two shots pierced an arm and leg respectively, causing the demon to fall to the ground from lack of balance. However, using one arm to stretch and prop himself up, the other two arms shot out and grabbed Rayne by her gun arm and her neck, pinning her to a wall. Slade grinned slightly to himself, closing his fingers around that human neck of hers.

"You forget your tone with me, human!" Slade growled.

"And…and..." Rayne choked out, "You forget…I had a wolf with me."

Slade only had a split second to ponder that statement, and it was the last thought that ever passed through his head. From behind Luceid had leapt from the stairs, claws digging into Slade's back, teeth around his neck before he tore the demon into three pieces with a mighty rend, legs, torso, and head all flying off in different directions. Rayne slid to the ground, catching her breath since the arms released her, to be accompanied by Luceid, whining worriedly over her.

"I'm fine, boy. I'm fine." Rayne said, standing up and reloading Desperado, "C'mon, we have to get to that stone."

Luceid gave a growl in agreement, and the two made their way across the debris-filled room, heading up the stairs to the tallest tower.

_Author's notes: Lots of action over the course of this chapter and the next. I try to keep a balance between talk and dialogue, but sometimes a fight just requires long paragraphs broken up with a little quip now and again. I'm also distressed that no one is reviewing. Would it help if I begged?_


	6. Chapter 5: Eidolon Stone

_Disclaimer AND author's note: I don't own Wild ARMs. I own do own original characters and concepts. _

_As well, I have decided that this will be the last chapter until I get a few reviews on the chapters preceding it. I live for reviews and comments on my work, so it's hard for me to see something I put a lot of work into go without words from the people reading it._

**Chapter 5: Eidolon Stone**

The spiral staircase up the tallest tower of the shrine was daunting, to say the least. For many minutes, Rayne couldn't even see the top of the structure they were climbing. Silently, she prayed Julian was alive. However, she also prayed that he was out of commission, for what she would have to do next would more than likely destroy whatever tiny ounce of trust he had in her. Luceid's eyes darted about, suppressing his growl for the time being, though it was evident he wished to. Finally reaching the top of the tower, Rayne stood in front of a massive door which seemed to be made out of gold. Along it was decorated motifs of a dragon of some sort, rising from the shattered ground with crystals imbedded through its scales. It looked as if it were once sealed, but now it hung open slightly, revealing a pale yellow light from within.

Gently pushing the door open further, Rayne gazed into the room, Luceid right below her. The inside room had four stain glass windows, one in each wall of the room. One depicted the dragon on the door, another a winged white tiger, another a large blue turtle-creature, and finally a large bird that seemed to be made out of fire. In the center of the room, sitting upon a stone pedestal was a translucent yellow stone glowing with power. Engraved in it was a single rune, which Rayne knew as "Earth". That could only be the 'sacred relic' that Julian had mentioned.

Speaking of whom, Julian was pinned against a wall by two javelins of energy, each holding him up by his robes. Floating by the stone was Kalvar, holding a third javelin in his hand and facing Julian with an echoing laugh.

"The last of your priesthood and you still insist on struggling?" Kalvar asked in that ever present cool, feminine voice, "It only delays the inevitable by fractions of seconds."

"The relic will not be yours so long as I live!" Julian shouted back, struggling to move his arms to cast a spell, but failing.

"That can easily be arranged." Kalvar replied, rearing back his arm to fling the javelin.

Rayne quickly fired off a shot, striking Kalvar in the hand and forcing him to let go of the javelin, causing it to explode above him. Rayne hadn't seen that coming, but it was a pleasant surprise as she strode across the room towards the stone. A javelin whizzing at her from the smoke of the explosion caused her to abandon her path and roll to the side, narrowly avoiding a strike. Kalvar was up, and not looking happy. This was because the explosion had cracked his golden mask half-way, and some of his features beneath could be seen. He was blonde haired, blue eyed, and strangely familiar to Rayne, though she couldn't put her finger on it. What she could put her finger on, however, was her trigger, as she fired off another shot into a hand developing a second javelin, causing Kalvar to once more lose control and end up under his own explosion.

With a leap, Rayne nabbed the faintly glowing stone, rolling along the ground until she was at Julian's side. She noticed for the first time that the light of the room seemed to be emanating from the stone itself. Julian couldn't have looked happier at seeing his savior enter the scene. Rayne almost felt a pang of guilt.

"Good job, Rayne…now let's finish off that demon!" Julian exclaimed.

"Eh, about that…" Rayne said, tucking the stone away and drawing her knife to cut Julian down, "I'm going to have to be taking the stone."

"…What?" Julian asked, the hope quickly fading from his eyes.

"The stone. I'm taking it."

As Kalvar rose from the dust of his second explosion, Rayne fired another shot into his head, causing him to fall back against the ground, for the time being anyway. Setting Julian down, and nodding to Luceid, she and the wolf raced towards the door, only to suddenly find beams of energy flying up and blocking their escape. Kelvar rose from the ground, the wound in his head bleeding, but not killing him obviously. Rayne noted with satisfaction that he looked angry.

"Just who the _hell_ do you think you are?!" Kalvar growled out, manifesting both javelins in both his hands.

"I'm the Sin that Walks."

With little other choice, Rayne raced to a window and, grabbing Julian forcefully by the color, leapt out of it with him, falling through the air. Below her she saw a roof, which she rolled onto, tossing Julian to let him land softer. Standing, she soon found Luceid landing beside her, shaking his fur loose of broken bits of glass. From there, she shimmied down the roof and jumped to the ground, Julian and Luceid following, and all of them breaking for the exit from the town while reloading Desperado.

"I don't understand…you're stealing the stone, yet you're helping me?" Julian asked, "Was this your plan the whole time?"

"I didn't know your relic was an eidolon stone, Father, until you told me." Rayne explained, "And I'm not one to let a priest die on my watch. I'm a thief, but I'm not a murderer."

Though she didn't see, a small smile of admiration lit Julian's features, though was quickly replaced by apprehension when the half-masked Kalvar appeared in golden mist not fifteen feet in front of them, and of course, between them and the gate. He looked entirely displease, and Rayne noted, a lot angrier than she left him.

"You…you're the Sin that Walks?" He asked, his cool tone gone into a harsh grind.

"What of it?" Rayne countered. She hadn't actually expected him to know what the name meant.

"Your fault…all your fault!" Kalvar shouted out, his composure completely abandoned.

"You'll have to be a little more specific. A lot of things are my fault."

Throwing his head back with an animalistic road, Kalvar suddenly started to change. His robes were torn apart as his body burst from them, muscles and strange metallic skin being revealed. His entire form seemed to grow until he was at least twenty feet tall. His mask broke apart, and his face melted into an image of horror: a red eyed beast with huge fangs, and green smoke billowing from his lips. Rayne stood for a moment and stared at this, clicking her tongue.

"Well, you're just a big freak of nature aren't you?" Rayne said out loud.

This only seemed to provoke this huge demon creature, who opened its mouth and spewed forth a green flame across the ground. Luceid and Julian were far enough way to duck behind a building, but Rayne caught the blast head out, flying back and through a ruined building wall, her red cloak slowly being dissolved in the green fire. Luceid quickly leapt out in front of his mistress, growling at the demon while keeping himself between it and her. Rayne leaned up, tossing her cloak and hat off and patting her shorts out. Luckily she had not been too badly burned, but being blasted through a wall, albeit a weak one, still hurt. The demon then lunged forward, throwing over-sized claws at the pair. Earthen shackles sprung up from the ground, catching the wrists of the demon, then pulling them down to the ground and holding them there.

"Hurry! They won't hold long!" Julian shouted, going back to his chant.

Rayne nodded and started to run forward, firing off a shot from Desperado. The bullet connected but bounced off his thick hide as if it were armor. Cursing, she looked for another method. Luceid was already running up a shackled hand and arm, towards the neck of the demon. Rayne grinned, and taking her cue from the wolf, followed suit on the opposite arm, firing at the head when it was in range. Kalvar howled out in pain, Rayne securely balancing on his shoulder.

"Let's see you breath on me _now_, freak!"

Much to her dismay, the cheek facing her suddenly opened a mouth of its own, and green flame billowed out. As Rayne slammed to the ground on fire, her only thought was _That is totally not fair._ This thing was starting to piss her off, now. And she didn't like being pissed off. Standing, Rayne cracked her neck and took a moment to catch her breath, before racing back up its arm and shoulder. Once again the cheek opened and release a gout of flame. This time, however, Rayne braced herself against it, hissing as the flames burned her skin, but gave her enough time to aim Desperado into the opening of the cheek and pull the trigger to activate gatling raid.

The five remaining bullets spiraled from the barrel and into the exposed mouth, creating such an explosion that both Luceid and Rayne were tossed from the body. The head had been clean blown off the body, which were both shrinking back down to normal size. As the visage of Kalvar fell to the ground, Rayne realized where she had recognized the young man behind the mask from. She also realized that she felt warm liquid coming from the back of her head. This was an unpleasant feeling, she thought, as she passed out.

Rayne felt something wet running across her face. Once…twice…there it was again. Opening her eyes, she saw the almost grinning lupine features of Luceid, licking her face once more for good measure. Perhaps she would have protested this if her head didn't hurt so damn much. Rolling her head to the side, she caught sight of Julian sitting by a fire, cooking something or other. A hand raised to the back of her head and touched it, quickly wincing. Her wounds had all been bandaged, including her head and arms. Realization hit as she reached to her pack by her side, fishing out the yellow stone from it.

"You're awake…excellent." Julian said, smiling over to her.

"Yeah…you did this?" She asked.

"Yes…You were very hurt."

"You didn't even try to get the stone back." Rayne pointed out.

"I know…I was more concerned with you."

Rayne sighed and laid her head back, wrapping an arm around Luceid, who was doing his best to be comfortable and almost snuggly with her. The events from before she passed out started to flood her mind. The one that called himself Kalvar…

"Who is Nilton?" Julian asked.

"Huh?"

"You were growling out his name in your sleep."

"Oh. Nilton is…was…Kalvar." Rayne explained, "He was the leader of a rival gang. Really good too, until my group beat him to a mission and he got caught instead of us."

"The Knight Blazers, right?" Julian asked.

"Heard of us?" Rayne asked in amusement.

"Who hasn't…Though I had heard the entire gang died in the wild fields."

"They did." Rayne sighed, "I was unlucky enough to survive."

"I see…" Julian fell silent for a moment, taking the pot of stew he was cooking off the fire, "So what now?"

"I don't know." Rayne replied, looking at the stone in her hand, "I guess I'm going to have to deal with the consequences of stealing the stone."

"Would you mind telling me why you're stealing it?" Julian asked, pouring a bowl and sitting by her, placing it by her side, "I figure you owe me that much at least."

Rayne sighed, rubbing her hand over her face. Luceid gave her a look that seemed to confirm Julian's statement, and with two to one, she knew she wouldn't win. "Fine, but you probably won't believe it."

"After tonight…you'd be surprised."

"Alright." Rayne started, taking a slight breath, "I come from a city called Saint Centaur."

"The city that pioneered the demon force gates?" Julian asked.

"The one and only. I grew up there with my folks, and life was pretty good." Rayne explained, "Until a night almost ten years ago. The sky suddenly turned red, and winds picked up in the town. We all came out to see what was going on. Looking into the sky…well, it was like looking up into a huge red eye that was looking back down at us. The light from it was as bright as the sun, and the wind seemed to come from it too. Then all of a sudden…there was a bright flash of light, and the entire town was obliterated."

"…I had heard that Saint Centaur was destroyed by an earthquake." Julian reasoned.

"Complete and utter bullshit." Rayne said between her teeth, "Everyone died that day except me and my friend. I still don't know how we survived. But we only had each other, and we struck out into the world. Eventually…we started robbing stage coaches and such to make a living. One day, we robbed one on its way to Adlehyde, and came upon some weird documents. One of them were blue-prints for an ARM."

"An ARM?"

"Yeah. But this one was huge. And it could fly." Rayne pointed out, "And had enough power…"

"…To destroy an entire city?" Julian finished.

"Right. Reading over the plans, we discovered Adlehyde was in possession of the ARM, and that it was powered by things called 'eidolon' stones. They were rocks with specific runes on them that apparently produced a huge amount of energy when consumed." Rayne went on to explain, "And it became out mission to track down these stones and stop them from being used in the machine."

"If that is so…why haven't we heard of another town just being destroyed?" Julian asked.

"Well, because Adlehyde had trouble tracking down the stones. From what we read, they had a hell of a time just finding the first stone, and they didn't anticipate that it would consume the whole stone like that." Rayne replied, "Anyway, we managed to find out one was being sent on a train from Fatooza monastery to Adlehyde, so my group and I ambushed the train. Unfortunately, two of my crew betrayed us, killed everyone, and almost me too, then disappeared with the train."

"The Wildfield Murders…" Julian said to himself, shaking his head, "But how can that be? There are only four scared stones, and they are all guarded by the shrines of the Guardians."

"Wait…you know where more are?" Rayne asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course…the shrines of fire, water and wind each have a relic like ours in their care." Julian explained, "They represent the gift of life that the Guardians bestowed upon Filgaia eons ago, and the promise that they would never abandon us."

"Right…and where is the nearest shrine?"

"Besides Grudiev's? I imagine it would have to be the shrine of Fengalon the wind keeper." Julian replied, suddenly stopping, "Wait, no! You can't steal their's too!"

"Watch me."

Rayne went to stand up, then quickly collapsed with an inadvertent cry of pain, holding her leg. She had been hurt worse than she had calculated, and laid back with her eyes clenched shut, trying to force the momentary anguish from her head.

"As soon as I'm better." Rayne conceded.

"…Then I will have to go too."

"Beg your pardon, Father, but what?" Rayne asked.

"I believe what you're doing is noble, and the stones must be protected. However, I also believe stealing to be wrong. We must go to the shrine and explain the attack and your situation to the head priest there. That way, the relic can be protected."

"And they're just going to believe me like you do?" Rayne questioned with a chuckle.

"Why not? You're telling the truth."

Rayne sighed, lifting her head to look at him, then laying it back down. Luceid crawled around to get in between, providing her a soft, furry pillow against his side as Rayne closed her eyes. She knew she couldn't argue with Julian now. The look in his eyes reminded her too much of herself when she set to a task. All she could do was relax until her wounds were healed. Of course she couldn't see the stone in her hand glowing faintly, nor could she notice the burns under her bandages had already started to mend…

_Author's notes:_ _The eidolon stones are more or less the "runes" used in the game series, though the characters of course do not know that. Shaping up to be an interesting turn of events, wouldn't you say? _


	7. Chapter 6: The Magister

_Disclaimer: I do not own Wild ARMs. Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar. Unless they really do own Wild ARMs, in which case they are not. I own the original characters and concepts._

**Chapter 6: The Magister**

The city of Adalaskar was perhaps one of the oldest still-standing cities in all of Filgaia. Its ingenious designers built the city into the very trees of High Forest itself, making the survival of the people dependant on the survival of the land it was built into. While many in Filgaia viewed this as a foolish move, since the world had been slowly dying for many centuries now, the original builders knew better. The High Forest was the only green land in Filgaia never to have perished, and with the world seemingly starting to heal, had even begun to expand into the plains of the Frontier from which it was a part of. Many said it was because here, the elw, the humans and the Guardians all met together and forged their bond to fight the encroaching demon invasion. The magical power from the three groups in one place is said to have protected the woods, helped them grow strong, and even to resist the decay the world had been in for so long after.

Whether this is fact or not is still debated by sages across the land, but the fact remained that Adalaskar had remained largely unchanged since the Great War, and it didn't look like it was on any road to changing anytime soon. Rayne knew this thanks to the explanations of Julian, who had seemed to come out of his shy spell and start to share every little thought with her. She wondered idly to herself if it was worth having him trust her to have to put up with the almost constant chatter from him. Luceid even seemed to be tired of it, longing for the days of quiet travel with his mistress.

So arriving into a town that grabbed his fascination enough to stop his yammering was as if the Guardians had personally come down and blessed Rayne. Though she had to admit, Adalaskar was something to be impressed with. She had been to very few vibrant forests in her life, and even fewer that held houses in their branches and trunks. Perhaps if she had not been on this personal quest, she could have enjoyed a short stay in the city. But alas, she knew the wind shrine was only two days out of town, so she was wanting to spend no more time than a night's rest in the forest.

"Think you can handle the rooms?" Rayne asked.

"Sure…What are you going to do?" Julian inquired with a tilt of his head.

"Have a drink. Maybe play some cards. Whatever meets my fancy at the time." Rayne replied with a grin, hustling herself over to what she assumed was the local bar.

Built into a tree trunk, the Stalwart Treant was a cozy little pub nestled in the trunk of one of the larger trees of the forest. Not only was it a popular hang out for the local folk after a long day of work, but it was also a place to earn a few coin, if the person knew how to play cards. Rayne was such a person, and had no problem taking a seat and getting in on a game. Years with the Knight Blazers taught her how to bluff with the best of them, and after spending a few rounds losing, to get them off guard, she spent the remainder of her time cleaning her fellow players out for all they had. She made a nice haul of five hundred coins before the men she was playing with decided they didn't want to explain to their wives how some little girl cleaned them out, and left.

During this whole time, a man had his gaze upon the dream chaser, as if studying every move she made during the game. He was dressed in a rich wine-red robe trimmed with gold, and three orbs of ruby constantly played between his fingers, while around his right wrist hung a gold bracelet of sorts, with a large sapphire set into the top. His free hand was stroking his chin, as if in deep thought about the person he was viewing.

Lauren had traveled a long way to find the girl from his visions. Indeed, he almost didn't believe they were true until she walked into the bar just as he had seen it a week earlier in his dreams. Even her strange wolf-like companion was accounted for, which only led more validity to the premonition. Reaching out with his senses, he detected a great source of magical power in her bag; the eidolon stone. If she really did have it, he would have to make contact with her quickly, to avoid what came next. Standing, he strode over to her now empty table and took a seat, smiling knowingly to her. Rayne for her part looked to the man has if he were crazier than the ones who just gambled off their money to her.

"Can I help you?" Rayne asked, taking a swig from a mug in her hand.

"I most certainly hope so." Lauren answered, "Rayne Montgomery, yes?"

"That'd be correct." Rayne said, her hand subtly reaching down towards her ARM.

"Please, that will not be necessary. I am here to help you." Lauren quickly added, sensing the tension.

"I wasn't aware I needed help."

Luceid looked up from his lazy position, staring at the man sitting by his mistress. A low growl came from his throat, but was quelled by Rayne's hand on his back, assuring him she had it under control. Lauren glanced down to the wolf almost unconcerned, then looked back to Rayne with that same, almost annoyingly knowing smile.

"You are in great danger, Ms. Montgomery." Lauren explained in a hushed voice, "If you choose to pursue the stones, you will perish."

"Is that a threat?" Rayne asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, not at all! My name is Lauren, a disciple of Moor Gault, the fire Guardian, and I have foreseen your demise." Lauren told her, nodding his head, "I am here to try and stop that from happening."

"…" Rayne rubbed her temples slightly, before speaking, "Alright. One, even if I believed in fate and preordained events and Guardians and whatnot, I would still find this suspicious. Two, supposing you really did see my future. Then surely you know what I'm trying to do?"

"Indeed. And I wish to help you."

"I-what?" Rayne stuttered, having not expected that answer, "But it means I have to steal your Guardian's stone.

"Not really." Lauren said with a chuckle, "I already took it and secured it in a safe place so we could retrieve it later."

Rayne looked to the man sitting before her, her suspicion only sky rocketing as the conversation went on. He claimed to be a follower of a Guardian, yet stole his own sacred relic so she could retrieve it? He seems to know her and wishes to help, yet just a second ago explained her doom was imminent if she retrieved the stones? This was why Rayne hated magical mumbo-jumbo. At least Julian had the good sense to keep his magical and religious talk to himself and spare Rayne's nerves the conversation.

"Listen, Lauren was it? I appreciate the concern, but I've got things well under control." Rayne explained with a sigh, "So sorry that you felt you had to come all the way out there. Good day."

With that, Rayne stood from her table, along with Luceid, and started towards the door. Lauren watched them for a few moments, before speaking aloud: "Did you have things under control when Edward shot you?". Rayne stopped in her tracks, eyes narrowing straight ahead. Even Luceid turned his head back to the man, surprised, and growling at the comment made. Lauren kept his same calm smile through it all, tilting his head as if waiting for the answer to his question. Slowly, Rayne turned around and walked back, standing over him with a dangerous gleam in her eyes.

"If you claim to know me, then you know that what you said is grounds for me to shoot you where you stand." Rayne whispered, menace dripping off her words.

"It brought you back, did it not?" Lauren asked, "And proved that I am not some charlatan trying to trick you?"

"What do you propose?" Rayne inquired flatly.

"Just let me come with you. I believe that I can help avert whatever disaster is to befall you."

"Out of the question. I travel alone." Rayne replied.

"What of the priest of Grudiev?" Lauren asked with bemusement.

"He's…damn." Rayne muttered darkly, "Fine. But I swear, if you're trying to pull one over on me, I will end you."

"Fair enough, Ms. Montgomery."

"Oh…Who is this?" came Julian's voice.

Looking over, Rayne found that Julian had wandered up, looking apprehensive about taking a seat. A reluctant nod from Rayne however caused him to pull one out and sit down with the other two, smiling if not baffled inside.

"You must be Father Julian." Lauren said.

"Do I know you…?" Julian asked in earnest.

"No, but I'm hoping we will get to know one another soon." Lauren replied, "I will be joining you on your journey to the shrine of wind."

"I see…I didn't think you'd want anyone else along, Rayne." Julian admitted.

"Long story." Rayne muttered darkly, finishing her drink, "Lauren here will be traveling with us for a bit."

"Company is always welcome!" Julian stated with enthusiasm. Rayne was less than enthused.

Luckily, Lauren had his own room at the local inn; turned out he had been staying in Adalaskar for a few days "waiting for Ms. Montgomery to arrive". This worked for Rayne, as she wasn't about to cover his inn expenses anyway. Something about the man just rubbed her wrong. It wasn't so much in a way that made her fear to trust him; if anything, he seemed more than trustworthy. His attitude towards things just put Rayne off. He was matter-of-factly, and not afraid to point out something, even if it was embarrassing or infuriating, if it meant his point got across.

Rayne mulled over those thoughts as she worked on bullets at her inn room desk, Luceid taking up the bed for the time being. As she tapped her delicate tools against the casing, to seal them shut, she felt an odd sensation roll over her. As if suddenly, she was no longer alone in the room. She reached for her dagger, since Desperado was currently disassembled to be cleaned. Yet after a few moments of nothing happening, she placed the dagger down and went back to the bullet. After all, Luceid wasn't disturbed, he knew things way before she did-

_"Rayne…"_

Dagger back in hand, Rayne glanced around quickly. What the hell was that? The voice sounded grainy, yet powerful in presence, with a hiss-like quality at the end. Was it another of those masked guys claiming to be demons?

_"You have nothing to fear from me…"_

"Where the hell are you? Come out!"

Glancing to her side, Rayne caught a glimpse of her pack. Something from within was emitting a bright, pulsing yellow light. Rayne shook her head in disbelief. No, it couldn't be the stone. It was just a chunk of crystal with a rune etched on it.

_"Is that what you truly believe?"_

"What?" Rayne stammered, suddenly growing angry, "Stay the hell out of my mind!"

_"We need you, Rayne…Filgaia needs you."_

"Yeah? And what has Filgaia done for _me_ lately?" Rayne snapped, "Go the hell away!"

_"…As you wish."_

And suddenly, both the voice and the presence in the room were gone. The pulse from the bag had faded away, and Rayne was once more alone in the room with Luceid. The wolf had perked his head up, and strangely, seemed to know what had transpired, tilting his head to Rayne in question. Rayne looked to the bag, then to him, and offered a smirk.

"You know I don't believe in that magic mumbo-jumbo." Rayne explained, "Besides, I don't need some stupid stone talking to me, telling me what to do. I'm living just fine."

Luceid seemed very pleased with this answer, a tail wag and a lick of his own snout being the response as he laid his head back down. Rayne wasn't sure what exactly that stone had tried to do, but she did know she had no use for cryptic voices and vague visions. She believed in what was before her, and what was before her was the task of stealing the stone from the wind temple. Aiding her wouldn't be some whispered about Guardians from on high. She had Luceid, and that was all that mattered. Oh, and Julian too. Not so much that Lauren guy. She laughed to herself at her train of thought, then went back to her work.

The next day came a little too quickly for an ARMs meister who had spent the night before working on equipment until the wee hours of the morning. The knock on her door was what awoke her, sitting up from her desk with a snort and rubbing her eyes. Luceid still asleep as well, she went to the door and opened it, frowning as the first person she would see today would just have to be Lauren, holding a reddish-brown cloak.

"I thought you could use this. Father Julian explained that your last one was incinerated?"

Rayne reluctantly took the cloak. It was amazingly almost exactly like her last one, though it had a strange rune on the back. Looking up, she tilted her head to Lauren, pointing to it.

"What's this then?"

"It stands for 'Desire'." Lauren explained, "In my vision, I saw you with it, so I took the liberty to add it."

Rayne frowned as Lauren decided to force his visions upon her, but sighed as she flung it around her neck. In all honesty, she had missed her old cloak, and this one felt almost as good. She nodded her thanks to Lauren, who only smiled and walked off. Closing the door, Rayne started to gather her things together, and then went downstairs where Julian and Lauren were already waiting.

"Ready to head out?" Lauren asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Rayne said as she stroked Luceid's fur.

"Magister Lauren, come out with your hands up!"

Rayne blinked as that voice echoed into the inn, looking to her equally confused friends. Walking to a window, Rayne glanced out to see a group of four people waiting not far outside of the inn. Each wore a different colored robe: yellow, green, red and blue, and all seemed to be focused on the door to the inn.

"Magister?!" Julian exclaimed, "You're a Magister?!"

"What? What is a magister?" Rayne asked in confusion, her hand sliding down to Desperado.

"A Magister is one of the heads of crest sorcerery! The undisputed heads of all that deals with magic and the Guardians!"

Rayne turned her head to Lauren, raising an eyebrow. The man could only shrug and offer that same grin he always did. Rayne could only roll her eyes, slapping her forehead.

"You failed to mention that the shrines themselves would be looking for you, 'Magister'." Rayne said with some venom to her voice.

"I thought it would take them longer to realize the stone was gone." Lauren replied with a chuckle, "No matter. We'll simply have to make a run for it."

"Yeah, tell that to the inquisition squad out there." Rayne snarled.

"If you fail to comply, Magister, we have permission to use lethal force to subdue you!" the leader dressed in red robes shouted again, "Please, return with us peacefully."

Rayne sighed, drawing Desperado as Lauren walked outside. Maybe he would be smart and turn himself in, and get out of her hair. No, it didn't seem like that was the case. The moment he stepped outside, the stones between his fingers started to float on their own, spinning about him. Clapping his hands together and pointing two fingers backed by his opposite palm at the yellow-robed man, a gout of orange-white flame spewed from him and into the man, sending him spiraling backwards, though amazingly, not on fire.

The other three quickly performed the chants Rayne associated with Julian's casting technique, producing a boulder, a spear of water, and a weaker-looking ball of fire that were sent hurling towards Lauren. Clapping his hands together again, Julian raised two different fingers and his palm, summoning up a wall of flame that absorbed all three attacks. Whatever this 'crest sorcerery' that Julian had mentioned was, it was certainly powerful. And Rayne didn't like that.

"C'mon, while he distracts them, we'll slip out the back." Rayne said to Julian.

"Not so fast!"

By the back of the inn stood a cloaked man dressed in a fine violet robe. He suddenly started to make the hand gestures that she watched Lauren just make. _Well, this just got fun._ Kicking up a table, Rayne was able to avoid being impaled by lances of ice, that stuck through the wood and inches from her nose. She quickly rose, firing off two shots towards the mage. She had aimed them to only clip him, but frowned as a similar fire wall sprung up around him, her bullets disappearing on the spot. Tracing his hands through the air after a clap, and a gale of wind suddenly pushed the table into Rayne, slamming her against a back wall and pinning her. Lucky for her, the ground beneath the feet of the man suddenly sank, and he found himself pinned into the earth up to his knees, struggling to free himself. Kicking the table off herself, she nodded to Julian, who had just finished chanting, and ran to the back exit, out into the streets and breaking for the unsettled forest.

Looking back and seeing that they had escaped, Lauren sighed in relief, turning back to the three priests he had been keeping occupied. He didn't have to hold back any longer. Clapping, then tracing his hands through the air, he shot his palms forward and a ball of white flame discharged, exploding in the center of their group. Lauren knew it wasn't enough to kill them, but it was certainly enough to do damage to them and leave him time to run after his new companions. The priests didn't even try to give chase. They instead chose to pat themselves out and crawl to the water priest for healing.

"What the _hell_ was that?!" Rayne exclaimed, running with Julian, "I've never seen you cast magic like that before!"

"Priests and crest sorcerers are very different…" Julian replied, looking behind him to make sure they were not followed, "I draw power from the earth itself…crest sorcerers draw power from special rituals that tap into the raw elements."

"So they can cast all sorts of magic and you have one type?" Rayne said.

"Well, all their magics are weaker than mine, since priests focus on one area…but essentially, yes." Julian admitted.

"_Great_." Rayne mumbled, looking down to Luceid at her side.

Soon, Lauren started to catch up with them. Rayne pondered if she should keep running anyway, but slowed down and turned in a direction with them, to try and lose any trail of themselves in the woods. Finally, they came to a stop, breathing heavily as Julian leaned against a tree and Lauren patted his brow with a white handkerchief.

"Good going. We're probably on every wanted poster from here to Adlehyde." Rayne grumbled.

"Not likely." Lauren told her, "The capture and trial of a Magister are kept private by the monastaries and shrines. I imagine they will try to keep things about us quiet."

"That's good, at least. Figures I have to team up with a fugitive." Rayne said wearily.

"Remind you of old company?" Lauren said with a smile.

Rayne resisted punching him in the face, instead holstering Desperado and clenching her fists. Luceid himself seemed to give Lauren a dirty look, subtly placing himself between his mistress and the Magister. If Lauren was offended, he didn't show it, tucking away his handkerchief and tucking his hands into the sleeves of his robes. Julian did much the same, and with a collective sigh, the four individuals started to walk through the woods. Indeed, the road to the wind shrine was not shaping up to be a pleasant journey for Ms. Montgomery.

_Author's notes: I've received a lot of positive feed back on the story from e-mailed reviews, so I'm going to continue writing. I still encourage reviews in any form, however, as it helps me hone my writing style. Thanks for reading!_


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